Time for a little tlc after many years of abuse and me going through the nitro learning curve. Just thought I would post some before and after pictures.
I plan on replacing all the bearings, rebuilding the diffs, obviously a good cleaning and probably some new dirt bonz. I love the badlands but like to change things up every now and then. Who knows what else, maybe a new body also.
One thing I would like some advice on though. The header, I have an ERCM side bleed made for the coupler not the kind with the springs. I am using the stock hpi header and it looks horrible after a few runs even though I keep new exhaust gaskets on and the spring pretty tight. Do you think it may stay cleaner if annodized? What about a high temp paint?

I have never tried this, but have heard a few guys locally talk about it.
Buy the wife a new crockpot (slow cooker). Take the old one to the garage and fill with antifreeze, set on low and drop the header or pipe in for a couple hours and it will look like new.
Like I said, I have never tried it, but a few locals say it works.

Does anyone know if this fits the x? On amain when you click compatibility it just says xl.
In my teardown I found my current plate is cracked and would like to get a purple one but am having a hard time finding it.

The XL grey plate is 1 mm thicker then the 2mm X plate. Incompatible with a standard X. The transmission connection causes the problem the tranny mounts to the top of the plate and the plate being 1mm thicker it won't fit unless you shave off 1mm from the tranny mounts.

You can use the 3mm FLM plate if you want a thicker plate. Looks good too.

The XL motor plate will fit the X chassis, I have it installed on mine right now. I have used the XL plates for years on all my nitro savages. The X plate is very prone to cracking as you have found out.

Yes this is the second one I have cracked. This one surprised me though. I don't have nearly as many lid landings as I used to and I have strengthened my roll cage so that if I do have a lid landing the force should not reach the cooling head.
Who knows why it cracked this time.
I have already ordered another purple x plate. When this one breaks I'll either try the xl plate or maybe alza or irc makes one.

Everything has been disassembled and cleaned. It's about as clean as I can get it. I love those videos on how to clean your rc and the vehicle isn't that dirty to start with and they brush it with a paint brush and then blow some air on it. Voila it's clean. Well let's just say that wouldn't work on mine. There was dirt and grease etc., everywhere.

When I rebuilt the diffs I decided to finally switch to oil. The other times I rebuilt them I kept going with the grease. This time I went with 30k up front and 10k in the rear. Whether or not there is a performance difference I don't know but it will now be much easier to change oils and or rebuild the diffs.

I have been changing bearings as I go and they have really made a difference with how smooth things are. Especially in the transmission. However after changing the wheel bearings I couldn't tell any difference by spinning the wheel nut. The old wheel bearings still felt pretty smooth after removing them. After four or five years there is hardly any grit in them which surprises me.

Still deciding on a body. The past couple have been a proline f650 and I still like that but I am also considering an older ford body. Maybe going the rat rod look but my painting skills are pretty limited.

Started putting things back together and I think I am going to find time to do maintenance in the future. I haven't purchased a crock pot yet but after running my buggy today and noticing it's pipe and manifold need cleaning I think I will soon.

Finally got everything cleaned and put back together. New fuel tank, tires, wheels, bearings, clutch shoes and springs and probably a few other things I am probably forgetting. Most importantly it's clean inside and out which I am sure is going to improve everything.
I think I am going to stay up on the maintenance instead of letting it get that bad again.